Dec 31, 2024; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Wild center Marcus Johansson (90) carries the puck around the boards agaisnt the Nashville Predators in the third period at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images As good as the Minnesota Wild have been on the road this season, it’s been the opposite on home ice. Now back in their own building after a five-game road trip, they’ll look to improve on their record as hosts when the Carolina Hurricanes visit on Thursday.
The Wild are 11-12-1 at Xcel Energy Center this season, compared to an NHL-best 20-7-3 on the road. The contrast in several areas of their game based on location is stark.
At home, they’re scoring a mere 2.58 goals per game, ranking them 31st in the league through Tuesday, and allowing an average of 3.29 goals against, seventh-most in the league. They’ve scored just 22 goals in the third period at home, 30th in the league, and have the NHL’s worst penalty kill on home ice at 61.1 percent.
Comparatively, as the visitors, their 3.03 goals-for per game rank 12th and the 2.47 goals against are the second fewest in the league. They’re second in the NHL in third-period goals on the road with 38. Though the penalty kill isn’t dominant on the road, its 77.1 percent success ranks 20th.
The Wild return home, though, in a bit of a lull. They dropped the final two games of the road trip and were outscored 9-0 — 6-0 against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday and 3-0 against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
“Maybe that’s a good change, coming home needing to turn things around a little bit,” forward Marcus Johansson said. “We need to make our home a place that’s tough to come and play, and we haven’t done that yet so far.”
Marco Rossi has already set a career high with 46 points (18 goals, 28 assists) in 54 games, placing him second in team scoring behind injured star Kirill Kaprizov (52 points). Rossi, 23, is three goals shy of matching his career best set last season.
The Hurricanes arrive in Minnesota looking to break out of their own two-game skid. After being handed a 4-2 home loss by the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, they were shut out 3-0 on the road by the league-leading Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
“There’s definitely things we have to be better at as a group, but you’ve got to move on, that’s it,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s a new day tomorrow and we’ve got to try and find a win in the next game.”
One of those areas the Hurricanes will be looking to improve upon is on the power play. They went 0-for-2 against Winnipeg and are 1-for-25 over their past 10 games.
“I feel like special teams, for sure, cost us the game (against the Jets),” forward Sebastian Aho said. “It’s a tough loss because at five-on-five, that’s a pretty good team, they don’t give up too much. But we had our looks, for sure enough chances to win the hockey game. We weren’t able to cash in, and that’s obviously been the trend as of late here. We’ve just got to be better.”
Carolina was 6-0-1 in its previous seven games before the two losses. Aho contributed to that success with seven points (four goals, three assists) in five games during that stretch. The center has been held off the scoresheet in the past two games.
–Field Level Media
